


A New Discovery

by Avisgremis



Category: Free! Eternal Summer - Fandom
Genre: AU, M/M, Yaoi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-12
Updated: 2016-06-26
Packaged: 2018-05-26 08:20:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6231229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Avisgremis/pseuds/Avisgremis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sousuke is an officer leading an invasion on a criminal's house. Once they catch who they're after and continue to search the house, he finds a merman in the bathtub, unconscious. After finding out that Haru had no identification or family to contact, he is taken under Sousuke's care.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

"Alright men. We need to do this as quickly as possible." Sousuke huddled up his group of officers who were highly trained and briefed of the current situation. "Our goal is to get the perp and then search the house, got it?" All of the men nodded in understanding. 

The raven haired man grabbed the gun that rested at his waist and cocked it, holding it with both hands, ready for anything. He tilted his head towards the door and a couple of the men stood before him. Sousuke nodded his head signaling them to kick down the door. Wham! The door flew open as they all began to rush into the house quickly, finding the man they were after sitting in the living room. The man tried to run to a window to escape but they caught him before he could. 

A few of the men brought him to the cruiser and cuffed him, etc., meanwhile Sousuke and the others began searching the house. It was a very small and dirty place. How anyone could live in such filth disgusted the man. Upon further searching, the last place to check was the bathroom. Unsure if anyone else was in the house, they had all stayed alert. 

Sousuke quickly opened the door, gun at the ready, only to see what seemed like a normal bathroom, but something was hanging over the edge of the tub. A fin? The man slowly walked into the room to find that what he saw was attached to a person. A man who looked like he was nearly dead. His face was completely submerged underwater along with the rest of his body except for the very top of the tail. 

The raven quickly holstered his gun and knelt by the tub, reaching in to pull the man up. The body was limp, but still breathing. If this man truly was what he looked like, how were they supposed to deal with him? 

"Call an ambulance!" He shouted to the others in the house. One of the men rushed to him. 

"Tell the ambulance to have some kind of water supply. I'm not sure how were supposed to deal with this." He spoke nervously as he held the cold body. The man nodded and ran out of the room shouting to others. 

Sousuke pulled the man completely out of the tub, his body and clothes now completely soaking wet from the water, and pulled the man close to his body. 'Heat.' He thought. 'Keep him warm, he can't die here.' 

After a few minutes of sitting on the bathroom floor, holding this man, he noticed the scales on the man's fin began to look translucent. He softly ran one of his fingers across one of them and it began to move along with the rest of the scales. They slowly morphed into the skin that was underneath it which had now turned a flesh color. And before his eyes, the tail had split in half, slowly changing into two legs. Sousuke could not believe what he had just seen. He blinked a few times to make sure he wasn't dreaming, but it was real. 

Before he had more time to think on the matter, he heard the sound of the ambulance closing in. He carefully stood up, making sure not to injure the man, and walked out of the house. The raven helped lay the man down on the stretcher and hopped in the vehicle. The paramedics quickly followed and closed the back so they could drive off. 

They began by starting him on an IV to give him fluids. His skin was pale and despite being in that tub for who knows how long, his skin seemed perfectly unwrinkled and flawless. Sousuke grabbed a blanket and covered the naked man with it. Still in shock of the events that just occurred, he couldn't seem to take his eyes off of the man laying in front of him. His eyes were filled with so many questions, but if he were to ask, he wouldn't even know where to begin.


	2. Silence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sousuke watches over the strange merman while he's in the hospital only to find that he has no identification, or family to take care of him.

It's been a whole day since I found this strange man. After I left with him in the ambulance, they searched the house more and no identification for him was found. He still hasn't woken up yet. I know it really isn't my problem to stay here with him, but I can't just leave him alone. There's too many holes in the pages that need to be filled. 

I took a week off of work to watch after him and make sure he's alright, and maybe find out why he was there. There's so many questions I need to ask him. I was starting to think that my eyes deceived me and that the tail was just an illusion caused by my mind, but could it really be? There's too much that I need to know to leave. 

My train of thought derailed as I hear a knock on the door. 

"Ne, Sousuke?" A red haired male came into the room with a duffle bag. 

I stood up with a blanket wrapped around me. I was still in my wet uniform from the night before. It was nearly dry, but still uncomfortable. 

"Hey, Rin. Thanks for going get that for me." The redhead passed Sousuke the bag of clothes and other hygienic things for however long he needed. 

"Don't worry about it. I'd be worried too if I found a guy like that. You're doing the right thing staying here. Oh, and we brought your car here. Figured you'd need that to leave." Before he could say anything else, the responder on his belt began speaking. He listened in before turning to me. 

"I've gotta go. Let me know if you need anything else." After saying goodbye, he was gone, leaving me alone in the room with the strange man. 

After another 20 minutes complete silence other than the beeping of the heart monitor and mumbling outside of the room, I realized that this entire time I had barely taken my eyes off of him. I scooted my chair closer to him to take a better look. He looked just like any other person. He looked...normal. But his skin, it's so flawless. I hesitantly reach my hand out and touch his, and his skin was the softest thing I've ever felt. How could skin even be that soft? I softly rubbed my thumb across the skin on his hand, mine laying on top of his. 

Not long after, while I still had my hand in his, his head turned over, now facing me. I quickly pulled my hand away, slightly embarrassed, but he was still asleep. I sighed in relief and hesitantly put my hand back on top of his. Before I knew it, I had fallen asleep, my hand holding this man, whom I didn't even know his name or anything about him. I just knew that I needed to know more. 

~

A couple of hours later I was awoken by a doctor tapping my shoulder; my hand was laying on the bed, cold and empty. I look up to see the man sitting up in the reclined bed, looking at the wall, silent. The doctor motioned for me to speak to him in the hall. I get up, leaving the blanket in my chair, and walked with him out of the room. 

"I'm not sure if you know anything about him, but he's refusing to speak. If there is any information that you have for him that would be ideal." The doctor spoke to me, holding his clipboard up, ready for any information that I could tell him. 

"I don't know anything about him either, but if its billing that's an issue, I can cover him. I'm not even sure if he knows who he is." I inform the doctor who seemed somewhat displeased with my response. 

"I guess that will do. We can discharge him in about an hour once we process all of the information. He's being released under your care, so if you could keep an eye on him, that would be great." I nodded in agreement as he handed me the clipboard. I quickly scribbled in all of my information that they needed and handed it back to the doctor. 

"All right, we will get everything processed for the discharge as soon as possible." He said before walking away. 

When I reentered the room, the man was sitting on the bed with his knees to his chest and his hands on his ankles, still looking at the wall. I stood awkwardly by the door waiting for something. I didn't even know what I was waiting for, just something. 

Deciding to finally break the silence, I spoke, "Um, hi. I'm Sousuke, the officer that found you at the scene we investigated. I found you unconscious in the tub and took you here. I'm glad you woke up, it's nice to meet you." I held my hand out to him to shake his hand, but he didn't do so much as budge or break his gaze, almost as if he was in a trance. I sighed and lowered my hand back to my side. 

"They're releasing you under my care in a little while. Is that alright with you?" 

The only sort of response I got was the man bringing his knees closer to his chest and resting his head between them. I knew from this point on, that this man would be a headache, but for some reason I knew I'd be able to deal with it. I walked back over to where my chair was and pulled it to its original position in the room and sat down, wrapping myself in the blanket, still cold from my wet clothes. Now for the waiting game, sitting in silence with this man until the doctor let him go.


	3. Something

Once the doctor came back with the discharge papers, I signed them and handed them back. After the doctor closed the door, I grabbed my bag, rummaging through it. I grabbed a light blue button down shirt and a pair of shorts. I handed them to the man who was now sitting on the edge of the bed in the hospital gown. 

"You can change into this. I'll step out so you can have so—." Before I could finish my statement, he had stood up out of the bed and was undressing. Who even is this guy? I thought to myself. I turned around to face the wall so the man could have some privacy as I zipped up my bag. 

When I turned back around, he was standing by the edge of the bed. The shirt was way too big for him. It was baggy all over and went to about halfway down his thighs, and the cuffs extended past his hands so just the tips of his fingers were visible. I couldn't believe how cute he looked in it. I looked away, coughing to clear my throat, my cheeks slightly pink. 

"Are you alright to walk to the car?" I grabbed my back and held the strap over my shoulder. The man gave a small nod as I headed to the door to open it for us. Something. Finally. I grinned internally. 

We walked out of the hospital to my car, a solid black Dodge Charger. I popped open the trunk with my keys and tossed my bag inside, closing it after. I then settled into the front seat as the other settled into his. Starting the car, I drove off. 

"So, do you speak?" I asked jokingly to break the silence as I looked over to him and he had one knee raised to his chest. His gaze was averting watching different things as they passed by. "I'll take that as a no for now." I turned my gaze back to the road and put on my blinker before turning. "Can you at least tell me your name? Or write it down if you can?" I reached in my cup holder and grabbed an empty gum wrapper and a pen out of my pocket before handing it to him. 

The man finally looked at me, allowing me to see his eyes for the first time. Wow. Blue like the ocean. The man meekly took the items out of my hand and placed the thin paper on his knee, grasping the pen in the other hand. After he finished writing it, he handed the items back to me. I dropped the pen in the cup holder before looking at the paper. The writing was nearly scribbled, but it was legible. 

"Ha-ru-ka? Is that right?" I questioned and he gave a slight nod in return before snatching the paper back from me. He took the pen and began writing something on the paper before handing it back to me. The last kanji was circled but with an X on it. After a few seconds of thinking I understood. "You prefer Haru?" He nodded again.

~

The rest of the car ride was quiet until we made it to my house. It's a fairly big place, despite me living by myself. I parked in the driveway and turned off the car. I looked over to Haru to see that his eyes were wide in amazement. 

"Have you seen a house like this before?" I asked him. He shook his head softly from side to side, his eyes not breaking his gaze. "Let's go inside." I opened my door and stepped out before going open Haru's door. He looked up at me from the car with his lips slightly parted, still in amazement. I held out my hand to help him out of the car. I was surprised when he actually took my hand. 

We walked over to the front door, which I quickly unlocked. I let him walk into the big foyer before me so I could shut the door. He walked into the center of it and looked around. To the left, there were the stairs and a door to a room; and to the right, was another bedroom and a hall to the living room, and dining room. Upstairs was my bedroom, the kitchen, and a smaller living room. 

I began showing him around the house, and every room leaving the back of the house for last. In the living room area there were huge floor to ceiling windows that viewed the back porch. When I took him out to the back porch, I heard a small gasp from him as he took sight of my pool. He stood by my side and looked up to me as if asking permission. I nod with a small smile on my face, and he quickly undressed leaving my clothes beside the pool and dove in. 

When he emerged from the water, his fin was now visible again. So I wasn't seeing things. I thought to myself. Rolling up the legs of my pants, I walk over to the pool and sit on the edge, letting my legs dangle in the water. 

It was nearly sunset already. The sky was orange and pink and nearly every other color. I leaned back onto my hands, looking up at the sky's cotton candy clouds. My trance was broken as I felt small waves in the pool get closer. When I turned my head to face the pool, I was surprised by a soft pair of lips against mine. Shocked, I back away from the pool, scurrying to my feet. I looked into Haru's eyes to try to understand why he did such a thing to basically a stranger. 

He took one of his hands and put it lightly against his chin before pulling it away. After thinking about it for a second, my mind remembered the smallest amount of sign language that I knew. He was telling me thank you. Without speaking, I touched my fingers to my forehead before bringing them down in front of my face, signing "You're Welcome." 

I shook my head to get what just happened off my mind. My stomach then growled, completely tearing the thought from my mind. "Shit." I mumbled remembering I didn't have anything to cook here for one, let alone two. Turning back to face the pool, I ask. "Want to come to the grocery store with me? I need to buy something to cook." He seemed uninterested and continued to float around the pool. "You can choose what you want." He instantly turned to look at me with a twinkle in his eyes. 

"I'm going to change. You can just put back on what you had before." I walked over to a cabinet in the wall and grabbed a large towel and placed it by the clothes before heading back inside.


	4. Fishy

Ch. 4 Fishy

Closing the door to my room, I waked over to my window looking over the pool from the second floor. I could see Haru sitting right outside of the pool, drying his tail with the towel. Leaving the window, I walk into my bathroom, taking off my nearly still damp uniform. I lay my badge on the counter as I unbutton the shirt. After taking it off, I could smell the dampness still lingering on my body. Not taking a shower in two days probably wasn't a fantastic idea. A quick shower couldn't hurt. 

Before stepping into the shower, I crack the bathroom door slightly for the air to circulate out of the room. The warm water pouring down onto my body was so soothing, almost like a massage, rubbing out every crick and pain I seemed to have. I looked up to the ceiling, letting the water flow down me. 

My mind began to wander back to the man and what he was even doing here. We're him and I destined to meet? I shook my head, putting it under the stream. It couldn't be. I'm just imagining things. 

After washing up, I got out of the shower, tussling my hair dry with the towel before tying it to my waist. When I opened back up the bathroom door, Haru was standing in my room wearing only my tee shirt, which covered all of his extremities. He lifted up the shorts in his hand and with his other, lifted the side of the shirt slightly. 

I walked past him in my room and opened a drawer of my dresser and pulled out a pair of boxers for him. They were older and fit me tightly so I figured they would probably be best for him. 

"You can go in the bathroom and put them on. I need to get dressed, so just close the door." I handed him the underclothes; and he nodded, exiting to the bathroom and shutting the door behind him. 

At least I still had my towel on. I thought to myself. I don't know what I would have done if I had walked out without it. Sighing in relief, I pull some boxers out of the still open drawer. I let the towel fall from my waist onto the ground before stepping in and pulling up the underwear. 

Quickly, I grabbed a tee-shirt and shorts out of another drawer, casually tossing them into my bed. After I was able to pull on my shorts, Haru emerged from the bathroom dressed, while I'm still shirtless. 

"Is there no privacy with you?" I asked somewhat in annoyance since it was the second time he walked in on me in the past five or so minutes. He tilted his head slightly to the side as he began to sign something again. 

His hand closed with his fingers extended by his chin, he opened them up as he moved his hand around his face then rested. Beautiful. Was what he said. A small shade of pink tints my cheek as I look away and quickly pull on my shirt. Last thing before we left, I grabbed a pair or flip flops out of my closet for the man to wear. I dropped them in front of his feet and he easily slipped them on. 

~

The car ride to the store was unsurprisingly quiet. Being that I had not much to talk about and he was currently mute, I played music for the ride. I eased the car into a spot and turned to the man before shutting it off.

"Do not walk away from me in here. Stay by my side, I don't want you getting lost." I looked at him, this time waiting for a response. He nodded and I pulled the keys out of the ignition. There was no telling where he would go unmonitored. 

Once we were inside, I saw a familiar gleam the man's eyes. I assumed he had never been in a grocery store either. A smile spread across my face in amusement. Even though the look wasn't completely plastered across his face, he was still beautiful with that glint in his eyes. 

We began strolling up and down the aisles. I pull a few things from the shelves that I know that I'll need; pasta, rice, soup cans, etc. After I got most of what we needed, we came to the fresh meats. The store that I would always go to had a butcher so all of it was fresh, they even had some fresh seafood and fish. 

"Sousuke-kuuuuun!" I heard a familiar female voice from behind me, and I turned around to see a girl with long red hair approaching me. 

"Gou-san. How are you?" I asked her as she opened her arms wide, giving me a huge hug. 

"I'm doing great! And you??" 

"I'm alright. I'm currently taking care of..." I turned to motion to Haru only to see that he's not at the basket. I looked around and see him by the seafood case, staring inside of it. "I'm taking care of him." I pointed him out to her and she nodded. 

"Rin was telling me about that, but he didn't say much. Something about it being confidential." She pursed her lips and looked to the side. "Anyway!" She snapped back to the conversation, "It was nice seeing you, Sousuke-kun!" She gave me a big hug before continuing her shopping. 

I rolled the cart over to where the man was and stood by his side. He was holding some sort of fish in plastic wrap, and he was staring at more. 

"So, you like saba?" I asked watching him for a response. He quickly nodded and looked up at me with pleading eyes. "Put it in the basket." He softly smiled up at me, melting my heart. This is the first time I see him smile. I thought as I grab about seven mackerels out of the cold case and place it in the basket. Meanwhile, Haru still held his tightly in his arms, hesitating before setting it down in the basket. 

I then quickly got some seasonings that I could use to cook the fish before heading to the checkout. I stood in front of the basket unloading all of the items for checkout while the man stayed quiet behind the buggy. After I checked out, everything was loaded into the car and we headed back to my house.


	5. Learning

We arrived back at my house, and I unloaded all of the groceries into the kitchen. Haru followed me inside and sat in one of the stools at the bar. He watched me unpack everything and put things where they belonged with a dazed look on his face. He must not have known tidiness in the place we found him.

I began cooking Haruka's food first, due to him eying to bag with the fish constantly. "Do you want anything with it?" I asked looking over to the man. He shook his head softly. When will he finally speak? I thought to myself as I turn back to the stove. 

As I let the saba seer in the pan, I emptied my pockets which included my wallet, some spare change, and my badge onto the counter. The raven eyed them and looked over to me questioningly. I nodded giving him permission to investigate the items. 

He hesitantly grabbed my wallet, opening it to view its contents. Taking out each thing slowly, he lined them on the counter. The last thing he took out was my driver's license, which he held in his hand, reading it carefully. He then grabbed my badge, examining them both. 

"S-Sous... Sou-su-ke." He pronounced each kanji slowly. His voice was soft and warm but medium toned. 

"Yamazaki Sousuke." I spoke to him. "But you can call me Sousuke." I looked at him and grinned softly, putting a slight blush across his cheeks. 

"Sousuke." He nodded setting down the items he was holding. He returned all of the things in my wallet exactly where he found them and returned the wallet to where I placed it, but he continued to admire the badge. 

"That's my police badge. That's how I saved you." He looked up to me with soft, thankful eyes and grinned slightly. I patted the top of his head softly, slightly tousling his hair before turning back to the stove to turn over the fish. After a few seconds of seering it on that side, I removed it from the pan and placed it on a plate, before putting the plate in front of the man. I handed him a fork and a knife so he could begin to eat while I cooked my food.

~

By the time I finished cooking my food, Haru was already finished eating his. He seemed to have no problems with it either; he did have some knowledge of things, but how much? I placed my plate in the seat next to the man, and walked around the island and sat in the seat. “Was it good?” I looked over to the man and asked him. His empty gaze was broken by my question. He nodded in response with a slight smile on his lips. 

“So, do you usually bathe? Like shower?” The man looks at me with a confused look on his face like he has no idea what I am talking about. Before I am able to ask him anything else, he signs “Thank you.” and begins walking towards the pool area. I look through the window as i watch him approach it. He takes off the clothes I had given him earlier and folded it beside the pool before jumping in. His transformation is truly beautiful. His scales and skin glistening in the end of the sunset’s glow as the moon began to shine takes my breath away.

After moments of watching him in amazement, I clean up the kitchen from dinner and head upstairs to my bedroom. I flip on the light switch to brighten up the room and close the door behind me. I gaze out of my window to see the man still floating in the pool. Closing the curtains, I undress out of my clothes and walk over to my bathroom. The water in the shower begins to run from cold to warm. I look in the mirror as I wait and see that dark circles began to form under my eyes. ‘Guess I haven’t been getting much sleep, huh?’ I think to myself as i run my hands through my slightly oily hair, due to the lack of a shower in a couple days. 

Stepping into the shower, the now hot, almost boiling water, runs against my skin, stinging at first but soothing right after. All of the aches that my body seemed to accumulate in the past 48 hours that I had yet to notice are suddenly being released. I let out a groan of satisfaction as I let the water cascade down my body, through every crevice of my skin, hair, and muscles. I never knew how satisfying it could be to take a shower. I had been on long missions before, but always was able to bathe at some point during. 

“What am I going to do with this man?” I ask myself as my mind ceases from wondering about my past. Whatever I am to do with him, it’s going to be difficult to keep him hidden for long. I’m not even sure who else saw him in his merman form. I shake my head slightly from my train of thought to finish my shower. 

Once I finish washing up, I step out of the shower and wipe myself down with the towel before wrapping it around my waist. When I step out of the bathroom into the bedroom, I see Haru in my doorway who appears to be shivering. He is wearing the shorts I saw him fold by the pool not long before, but now the shirt in his hands was nearly soaked. He had to have dried himself off with it before heading up here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long to publish this guys! I've been really busy lately. Thought I'd leave you with a cliffhanger to keep you anticipating the next chapter~ Enjoy!


	6. Cold

Chapter 6 Cold

“Haru, are you cold?” I ask him as I approach him. He nods slowly with a drop water from his hair sliding down his face and across his tense lips. His breathing sounds labored like he was running out of air. “Do you want me to run you some hot water?” I ask him as my own heart began to race. I run back into the bathroom and start the shower again, the water running hot immediately from just being on. I quickly go back to the shaking man and pick him, bringing him to the shower. Before putting him on the floor of the shower, I pull off the shorts the man was wearing. As soon as the water hit his skin, his legs began to morph into one long, scaly tail. 

He begins to calm down as his shaking stopped, and his breathing became normal. I sigh in relief and my heartbeat slows down. When my mind finally relaxed, I realized that I was still in just my towel. 

“I’ll be right back.” I tell him before going back into my bedroom, closing the bathroom behind me. I quickly slip on some boxers and loose shorts and go back into the bathroom and sit beside the shower. It’s a glass shower so I can easily see him through it.

“Are you feeling any better?” I question the man. He looks at me and nods with a small grin on his lips. “You’re used to the bathtub you were in when I found you, weren’t you? You could just run the hot water whenever you started getting cold.” He nods again. “If I would have known that before, I would have put on the pool heater.” I tell myself aloud. 

“Are you okay to get out? Or do you need longer?” He tilts his head towards the shower door signaling that he is ready to get out. I pull myself off the floor and turn off the shower, and I open one of the cabinets to grab a couple of towels for the man to dry himself off. I hand him the towel as he’s still laying on the shower floor and sit on the edge of the shower with another towel in my hand. 

He begins drying himself, patting the towel on his pale skin. I mimic his actions and begin patting the towel against his blue, scaly fin. He looks a little hesitantly at me at first but relaxes after I give him a soft smile, showing that I am just trying to help. After a few minutes of patting him, his scales began to disintegrate; the bases of them sinking into the man’s skin. The end of his fin slid off his feet that were reforming along with his legs.

Being that he wasn’t wearing any clothes when he got in the shower, now that his fin was gone, he was completely exposed. I advert my eyes and hand him my towel. Once he realizes why I looked away, he glances to the side embarrassed. He grabs the towel out of my hand and covers his waist with it before tapping my arm. I stand up and reach my hand out to him to help him stand. After he’s up, I head back into my bedroom and try to find something for him to wear. I find a pair of boxer briefs that Rin had left over by accident one time. It would probably be the only thing that could fit him because he’s so small. I grab a shirt out of my closet then head back into the bathroom.  
After the man slips on the clothes I handed him, he walks into my bedroom. I am sitting on the edge of my bed, eyeing him. The shirt I had given him was much too big; so big that the boxers were not even visible below the hem of the shirt. 

“Here,” I turn to him, “Come lay down on here the bed. I’ll go turn on the pool heater.” Getting up off of the bed, I wait until Haru is laying in the bed to go downstairs. I unlock the backdoor to the pool area to go turn on the heater. It will be a while until the water is warm though. 

“It will take a couple of days for the water to heat up so if you wanna sleep in one of my extra bedro--” I cut off my sentence when I look where the man was that I left and see him already fast asleep. Sighing, I walk into the room, beside the bed. His breathing is so quiet that I barely hear it. Without much left to do, I climb onto the other side of the bed facing the man.

As my mind begins to ease and my eyes flutter shut, I feel the man shifting around in the bed. Before I could figure out what he was doing, I feel his face nuzzle into my chest and his arm wrap around my side, pulling himself against me. I am surprised by his action and look down to his face, which shows no emotion. He's fast asleep. 

I don't know why, but the feeling of him next to me is soothing and peaceful. This beautiful creature laying beside me as if he were normal. If anyone were to see him in this state, they would not believe that he was anything but. And for a moment, I forget about it too. I ever so lightly rest my arm on him, holding him as my eyes droop closed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :oooo  
> Sorry about the cliffhanger. Had to get you to want to come back :P  
> Hope you like the cute coddles


End file.
